Here's something that just popped into my head
recently: If the specifics of childbearing are a curse, the result
of Adam and Eve's sin in the Garden of Eden, why do animals experience
similar cycles, pain, etc.? Thanks. The ladies of my shul are
waiting for an answer.

Dear Basha Majerczyk,

Good question. Let me add to your question: Why
do animals die? The Sages answer that Adam and Eve went around
to all the animals and fed them some of the forbidden fruit.
Whether this is meant literally or not, the idea behind it is
that this world is created for us humans to have free will, either
to build or destroy. When we sin, we destroy not only ourselves
but the world as well.